


True Pair

by ThetenthtenbeingofTen



Series: Luca and Mari [7]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Incest, LGBTQ Parents, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Past Child Abuse, Twincest, Yaoi, boyslove
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2019-04-22 22:08:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14318172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThetenthtenbeingofTen/pseuds/ThetenthtenbeingofTen
Summary: Over half a year after meeting and saving Sam, the twins are visited by their good friends!





	True Pair

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place six months after the main story of [Secret Ingredient](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13587972), and about 14 years before its epilogue.
> 
>  
> 
> Also, note this story has strong references to twincest. There are mentions of past child abuse and alcoholism - not by the twins!  
> If you are not okay with twincest, you can absolutely read the story and just ignore these aspects. If you are really not okay with twincest, you are better off not reading this story.  
> If you are not okay with reading about child abuse, if it triggers you, please be careful if you decide to read this story.  
> You have been warned!
> 
> Also, please note that English is not my first language! If you see mistakes, please let me know, so I can correct them!
> 
> Lastly, this story has switching 1st person narrators!
> 
> And now, enjoy!

_Mari

I rise from the couch to open the door, smiling when my eyes fall on the small family we’d been expecting.  
“Hey guys”, I greet and step aside to let them enter.  
Both hesitate for a moment, eying me with surprised expressions. Robin throws me a glance. I laugh and nod.  
He steps inside and pulls me in for a hug.  
“Hey Mari”, he says softly and squeezes me once before releasing me and smiling. “You look good – great actually”  
“You exaggerate”, I murmur and smile back at him before opening my arms to greet Tobi as well.  
He hugs me, patting my back a few times before stepping aside to take off his shoes.  
After them comes a boy with pale ginger hair. He smiles at me and toes off his shoes hastily.  
“Hello Mari!”, he calls and stands in front of me with a wide grin.  
“Hey Will”, I murmur and run my hand through his hair. “You’ve grown so much!”, I add when he presses his face into my stomach, almost reaching my ribs now.  
“Yup!”, he agrees and jumps in an attempt to reach the top of my head with his hands. I laugh and kneel before him.  
Will cheers and dances around me, climbing onto my thighs with his bare feet to look down at me. He leans back dangerously far, but I hold him and set him down on the ground again before standing up.  
Tobi blinks incredulously.  
“Who are you and what did you do to our Mari?”, he asks.  
I roll my eyes and scoff.  
“Nothing. It’s me”

Robin smiles softly.  
“Where did you leave Luca?”, he asks and reaches for Tobi’s hand.  
The younger squeezes his hand for a moment before releasing it and wrapping his arm around Robin’s waist.

“I’ll tell you guys in a moment. Come to the living room with me”, I murmur and lead the way. In the living room there have been a few changes since their last visit. There is now a box next to the couch, and a few blankets are strewn about among the cushions.

I sit on the couch and pull up my legs, sliding my feet under one of the blankets.  
“Take a seat”, I add when Tobi and Robin stand hesitantly in the doorway. Will rushes past them and flops down on the couch.

Robin sits next to me, looking at me like he’s expecting an answer, while Tobi leans back on the couch, stretching his arms and legs as he relaxes. Will crawls on top of him and giggles when Tobi starts tickling him.

“Well”, I start and glance at Robin. He gives me a small smile before nudging Tobi’s side to make him pay attention.  
He and Will look at me too now.  
“We have a child now”, I announce. “Luca and I”, I add and quickly look to the side. “Well, not really, but we’re taking care of him now. We’re his guardians.”

Tobi’s mouth fell open. Robin stares at me like I’ve gone insane, while Will looks back and forth between his parents.

“How… come?”, Tobi finally asks and cradles Will in his lap.

I shrug.  
“Well… It just happened”, I admit. Tobi laughs and shakes his head, bending over like he’s about to cry.  
“Impossible…” he wheezes.

Robin lowers his eyes and looks at his knees before glancing at the toy box next to the couch. I sigh. It catches Robin’s attention and he looks at me again.

“How… are you… doing?”, he asks and fully turns towards me, folding one leg on the couch with the foot resting against his other thigh.  
“I’m good”, I say quickly and look at myself. I still have a shawl wrapped around my shoulders from earlier, when I put Sam to bed for his nap.  
I laugh.  
“Look at me. I’ve become a perfect parent”, I joke and tug at the shawl. Robin’s face remains serious and worried.  
I nudge his shoulder.  
“Stop it with that look”, I insist.

Tobi sets down Will who walks around the living room to re-explore it for himself.  
“What happened?”, Tobi asks, resting his chin on Robin’s shoulder.

“Well”, I murmur and lower my eyes, “we saved Sam, I guess.” I shrug.  
It’s hard to tell the story.  
Even now, almost half a year later.  
“How so?”, Tobi wonders and crosses his arms.

“His dad screwed off somewhere… his mother… was an alcoholic and… he beat her… and Sam”, I try to summarize, “He beat Sam before screwing off. I think the police is looking for him, but they haven’t found him. For all I know he’s dead or living on the street somewhere. Serves him right”, I mutter, lowering my voice so Will won’t hear.

Robin throws a horrified glance at Tobi, who in turn glances at Will who’s happily oblivious to his parents’ concern.  
“Sam’s fine now. Mother’s off to rehab, and Sam lives with us now”, I assure, gesturing the toy box and blankets.  
Robin lowers his eyes.  
“That’s terrible”, he mutters. Tobi shakes his head before looking at me again.  
“How come he’s with you now?”

I lick my dry lips and bite off a piece of dry skin.  
Robin taps my chin.  
“Stop that”, he chides.  
“Sorry”, I sigh and brush my thumb over my lips, wiping away some of the blood that oozes from the small tear.  
“Sam came to our door one night, crying. He’d run away from home but didn’t dare to go far, so… well. I couldn’t send him back, so we kept him… here. Until his dad came to get him back. That happened a few times until… things went south, and his dad… uhm… fucked up really bad… and we kept Sam”, I explain without mentioning the truly scary parts.  
Those tender parents don’t need to hear extra horror-stories, so I leave them out.  
“We kept checking on the mother, but at all times she was drunk. One day she didn’t respond, so we called an ambulance. They brought her to the hospital; she’d passed out and fallen into a coma… they sent her to rehab and well… there’s hoping she’ll get her act together again one day”, I add when I see Tobi about to ask another question.  
He lowers his head, throwing a glance at Robin.

“And thats why they left him with you?”, he then murmurs and I nod.  
“Sam’s mother doesn’t have any family that would be able to take in a child, and well… Sam had already grown attached to Luca and me. So after a lot of debating they decided to spare him the extra trauma and let him stay with us.”

“I see”, Tobi murmurs and rubs Robin’s back.  
Robin sighs.

He watched his own niece grow up, he adopted Will with Tobi… he adores children.

I’m about to say something when Luca calls my name.  
“Mari, come”, he calls and I immediately get up.  
“What’s wrong?”, I whisper. Luca smiles.  
“I’m no good, I guess. Go work your magic”, he says and presses a kiss to my lips. “I’ll go entertain our guests”, he then murmurs and walks past me.

I sigh and enter the bedroom, where I find Sam, curled up and huddled in our blanket. I climb into bed and curl around him, allowing him to snuggle up into my chest.

_Luca

I run a hand through my hair and enter the living room. Before I can say anything Will crashes into my body and cheers.  
“Luca!”, he says and hugs my waist.  
I grab him under his arms and raise him up into the air.  
“A giant!”, I call out and set him down again. He’s grown a lot! Last time we saw him he reached my navel.  
Will laughs and dances around me.

“Hey guys”, I greet when Robin and Tobi start to rise from their seats, “stay put, I’ll come over”, I add and walk over to the couch. They stand anyways and open their arms invitingly.  
I hug Robin, then Tobi and sit next to them on the couch.  
Tobi slaps my knee.  
“So you two still look the same”, he sighs and grins.  
I smile.  
“Yeah, as always”, I agree and run a hand through my hair.  
“Damn, and there I thought, when I saw Mari that I’d be able to tell you two apart for once”, Tobi moans.  
Robin laughs softly.  
“You both changed a lot though”, he says and throws a demonstrative glance in the direction of the bedroom.  
I sigh and nod.  
“Oh yeah… Sam changed everything”, I murmur. Robin nods.  
“That’s what children do”, he points out and smiles at Will, who crawled onto his lap now.  
“What do children do?”, he asks and looks at Robin.  
“Change everything”, Robin replies and taps Will’s nose.  
“Me too?”  
“Oh yeah. Absolutely!”, Robin agrees exaggeratedly.  
Will laughs.  
“I might change a lot. But not everything”, he then argues and tilts his head to the side. “You don’t get to blame me for everything in the world, daddy!”  
Robin laughs and pulls Will closer to hug him.  
Tobi laughs as well and scratches his nose.  
“That’s my son!”, he cheers.

I smile.  
“Sure is. He got that sass from you”, I agree and laugh when Tobi throws me a sour pout.  
Truthfully, neither of them is Will’s father. Tobi is Will’s distant cousin and Robin shares no blood with him. It doesn’t make them less of a family though.  
I can’t help but wonder if Sam considers Mari and me his family as well. Even just a little… 

Robin throws me a worried glance.  
I lean back and cross my ankles.  
“How’s Pluto?”, I ask.  
“So huge!”, Will answers immediately. He jumps off his father’s lap to outline their dog’s size in the air.  
“And we got another one too”, he adds and stands in front of me, forming a small sphere with his hands.  
“A baby puppy”, he says and holds his hands in front of me, “so tiny!”  
I smile and look at Tobi and Robin. They nod.  
“Same mother as Pluto’s, but sadly she was too weak to stay with the rest of the litter. We took her after visiting the breeder with Pluto once. Pluto adopted her immediately”, Tobi explains and pulls out his phone.  
“We called her Chione”, Robin adds as Tobi hands me his phone, showing a photo of Will, cradling a tiny white ball of fur.  
“Oh wow… she’s really tiny”, I murmur.  
Pluto is quite the big dog, a mix breed. It’s almost unbelievable how tiny his sister is by comparison.

“Who’s tiny?”, Mari asks to everyone’s surprise. He walks into the room, rubbing his arms with his hands. He left the shawl with Sam I guess. He moves in to sit on the couch, but I don’t let him sit on it, pulling him into my lap instead.  
He huffs.

Will stands in front of Mari, grabbing Tobi’s phone to show him.  
“Chione”, he says, “Pluto’s puppy sister.”  
Mari nods and smiles.

Tobi takes back his phone and puts it back into his pocket.

I wrap my arms around Mari’s waist. He glances down at me.  
“Sam okay?”, I ask softly.  
He nods.  
“Soundly asleep”, he adds and sighs. I chuckle and shake my head, resting my forehead against Mari’s arm.  
“You’d think it doesn’t matter who puts him to sleep, but Sam sleeps so much better with Mari”, I murmur and squeeze him.  
Mari rolls his eyes.

Robin nods, hugging Will who climbed back into his lap.

“I guess he bonded with Mari more than me”, I continue, releasing Mari when he stands up and walks away.  
“Drinks, anyone?”  
“I’ll have juice”, Tobi decides and raises his eyebrows at Robin.  
“Tea?”  
“Sure. We have fresh mint?”, Mari suggests.  
“Sounds great”, Robin agrees.  
“I’d like juice too”, Will states and Mari nods, smiling faintly. He goes to the kitchen without another word.

Immediately Robin is looking at me again.  
I shrug.  
“I feel like they just… uhm… there’s a harmony between them”, I say lowly.  
Mari doesn’t like when I point out these things.  
It doesn’t make them less true though.  
“Mari was the one who let him in in the first place, he shielded him, he… spent time with him”, I murmur and sigh deeply.

“Shielded?”, Robin asks hoarsely. I should have known… of course Mari wouldn’t have told them.  
“Yeah. From Sam’s father. I’ll explain another time, Mari hates it”, I whisper when I hear clattering from the kitchen.

Mari comes back, carrying a tray with three mugs and two glasses. I get up and take the glasses from him, handing them to Will and Tobi. Will thanks me with a wide grin. Mari sets down the tray on the coffee table and hands the tea-mug to Robin before sitting down. I grab my own mug and sit next to Mari.  
“What about you?”, I ask when he doesn’t make a move to reach for his own coffee.  
He shakes his head.  
“I’ll have it later”, he murmurs.  
Robin sighs into his mug.

“Stop it, both of you”, Mari hisses and I’m certain that the only reason why he doesn’t elbow me in the ribs is that I’m holding a cup of hot coffee in my hand.  
I smile at him.  
“We’re not doing anything”, I soothe.  
“Yes you are”, he accuses.

“How long will he stay with you now?”, Tobi interjects.  
“Probably long enough for you two to babysit him at some point”, Mari shrugs.

“Does that mean I get to play with him?”, Will asks excitedly.  
Mari looks at him and makes a vague gesture.  
“Maybe. He’s almost four, so…”  
Will nods contently and goes back to sipping his juice.

Robin rubs Will’s back and sets down his mug on the coffee table.

_Robin

After all this time it’s hard to believe.  
The same man who’d turn away from Will with a terrified expression was now parenting a child of his own. Well, not his own, but close enough.

The same man who, when he was a young teenager, barely older than Will, had been so… different.  
Just different.

And yet, it’s clearly the same person.  
The more things change, the more they stay the same, as they say. It’s true.

I think there are things that neither of them is aware of. Things that draw them to each other. Sometimes – mostly in the past – I resented those things about them, because they were what broke my heart for the first time.

But now, so much time has passed, and these things are still there.

Mari is still that same vibrant character, who somehow just draws people in, and Luca is still the same calm, strong presence to even out the drama.  
Honestly, they both have something that draws people in. Mari is just a bit more showy.  
He’s the one catching people’s attention, but Luca is the one who holds it.

In the past – and sometimes still – I feel there’s an unspoken kinship between Luca and me, as we both worked as the calming presence around Mari. Only Mari chose him and not me in the end.

I never resented him for it. I knew he suffered more than enough for it, I knew he hated himself so much for his feelings. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the night when it all ended.

When he stood at my door, a total mess. He had obviously cried the whole way, walked on foot through the cold. He came to life for a short time while he was with me, but soon enough he started crying again.  
And this time, he didn’t stop.

He told me how he felt, how he had been trying so hard to suppress the feelings he knew he shouldn’t be having and so on. He opened up to me in a way he never had before during our relationship, and I understood why he hadn’t.  
I understood the distance that was growing between us, and I couldn’t help but feel so bad for him. I never blamed him for it; honestly, the thought never even crossed my mind.  
My own pain wasn’t real in that moment, and all I saw was this crying boy whom I’d loved so much. And I wanted him to be happy no matter what that meant for me.

Hours, days, weeks later I cursed myself. Whenever I saw him on the hallways, whenever I saw him from my classroom window, walking there with Luca’s arm wrapped around his waist, I cursed my own… idiotic altruism.

I had a few flings with people after that, none ever lasted more than a month. It was always people who both did and did not resemble Mari in some way.  
It never worked out.

Today I laugh when I think back to that moment, when the two people I had been trying to escape from walked back into my life.

Mari and Luca.

I had spent so much time escaping them, but when I saw them both, my heart stopped fooling itself and finally admitted that I had wanted nothing more than to see them happy.

Vincent broke up with me mere days later. Another name in a long list of names… and at the top of that list is Mari’s name.

 

Will has fallen silent, staring at something behind my back. He looks a bit tired.

Mari does too, actually. Luca keeps his arm around Mari’s waist and if I looked down at his hand, I’d see him stroke Mari’s skin where he pushed Mari’s shirt up a bit. He did that a lot in the past too.

Tobi nudges me and throws a glance at Will.  
I close my eyes and shake my head once. It’s okay. He can stay up a bit longer tonight. We’ll let him sleep in the car when we go home.

Tobi nods and smiles.  
“Damn, I still can’t quite believe it”, he sighs. He slaps Mari’s thigh, startling him and laughs. Mari throws a halfhearted punch in Tobi’s general direction, but slumps back against Luca and smiles.  
“Do you get tired too when putting the kid to bed?”, I ask and bounce Will on my lap ever so gently. He shifts closer to me and wraps his arms around my neck.  
Mari nods.

“Wanna put Will to sleep for now?”, Luca asks softly and gestures the bedroom door.  
“Uh… sure”, I murmur. I would have been fine holding him, but I guess putting him to bed would indeed be a better idea.  
Neither Tobi nor I are too keen on leaving the twins again after such a short time.

Mari gets up.  
“Stay put, I’ll find everything”, I assure but he shakes his head.  
“Sam is still on our bed”, he murmurs and walks ahead. I rise to my feet, careful not to disturb Will. I follow Mari to his and Luca’s bedroom.

Their combined scent is strong inside the whole flat, but here it’s really intense. I don’t need to ask why.

Mari sits on the edge of their bed and looks at me.  
“Lay him next to Sam, gently”, he whispers and carefully pulls the blanket up for me to lay Will down next to the sleeping toddler. I sit on the mattress and lower Will carefully. It takes a bit of convincing for him to let go of me.

Sam seems to stir easily, opening his eyes and blinking into the darkness.  
Mari is stroking his head before he can even make a sound.  
“It’s just me, Sam”, he assures and lies down on his side next to Sam. “Is it okay if Will sleeps next to you tonight?”, he asks.  
Sam blinks and turns around to see Will settling next to him.  
“Okay”, he whispers and curls into Mari’s chest.  
Mari gropes around in the darkness and I’m about to ask what he’s looking for, when he finds something and pulls it over Sam.  
It’s the shawl from earlier.

Will turns on his side and throws his arm over Sam’s waist and for a moment I’m worried this won’t work out after all, but Sam doesn’t seem to mind.  
He only glances back at Will before looking at Mari, who smiles softly and places the shawl over Will as well.

Sam falls back asleep soon and Mari extricates himself carefully, wrapping both children in the blanket to replace his and my body warmth.  
He then bites back a yawn and stretches his back while I rise to my feet. He gets up as well and runs a hand through his face.

“You can stay with them if you like”, I murmur as though he needed my affirmation. He shakes his head and sighs.  
“Nah, I’m fine”, he assures and walks ahead. I put my arm around his waist and squeeze him briefly before letting go. He throws me a glance and rests his hand in my nape for a moment.  
We look at each other.

  
  


We’re the same height now.

Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever stop loving him, if I’ll ever stop comparing him to the boy I’d fallen for almost twenty years ago.

Not that I don’t love Tobi.  
Not at all.  
He was like a breath of fresh air after I’d been drowning for so long. He was so different, yet he had something that was so familiar.  
He treated me with the same care and tenderness as Mari without being hesitant or withdrawn.  
He loved me in a way that nobody else ever had, and when we adopted Will it was the most natural thing ever.

Mari breaks away and enters the living room. I follow. Luca reaches out to him immediately, pulling him into his lap again.  
Tobi rolls his eyes.  
“You two have been together for so long, one would think you’d grow tired of each other, but you act like you haven’t seen each other in years”  
I know Tobi secretly envies their closeness.  
“Do you want me to sit in your lap?”, I ask, knowing his answer already.  
“Hell no, you’d break me”, he groans and laughs.  
I shrug and sit next to him and smile into his hair when he settles against my side.  
“All good?”, he asks and throws a glance at Mari before looking up at me.  
“Yeah”, I say and wrap my arms around him.  
“You saw the mysterious child?”, he asks, raising an eyebrow. “Does he have wings? Or a wand?”  
“Nope. He’s an absolutely normal and adorable child.”

Mari rolls his eyes and leans his face into the crook of Luca’s neck.  
“I’m human too”, he sighs. “I have a heart.”  
Tobi scoffs.  
“I doubt it”, he argues, but we all know he doesn’t mean any of it.  
“Damn!”, Luca hisses and pretends to be shocked, “How did you know Mari was secretly an Angel?”  
“More like the devil”, Tobi quips.  
“I can hear you both”, Mari reminds and glares at Luca. “I can run off with Robin after all”, he warns and I nod eagerly.  
Of course it’s all just a joke. I have long since stopped feeling pain when thinking back to that time.

Honestly, to this day I’m pretty certain it hurt Mari more than me.

Tobi acts shocked.  
“You wouldn’t do that to me, would you?!”, he asks and places one hand on his chest in mock desperation.  
I raise my eyebrows and smirk.

Luca doesn’t take any chances, wrapping his arms more tightly around Mari’s body.  
“I won’t let you”, he insists and smiles into Mari’s shoulder.

The same old easy harmony arises between us four that was present in our old time.  
I often miss those days, when the house was filled with life. It’s too big for Tobi, Will and me alone. Sure, we have Pluto and Chione along with our hamsters and one old cat, but it’s not the same.

But I also understand why they couldn’t stay with us.  
Hell, anyone who’d seen Mari back then would have understood.

I’m not going to fool myself and pretend like I don’t know I was part of the cause. 

When I look at Mari now, I’m so happy to see him smile.  
When I hugged him, I was happy to feel flesh and muscle instead of bones.

Even after he and Luca moved out and into this flat I know he didn’t recover easily.  
After all, I was only part of the cause.

I wonder if he ever told Luca. 

 

Mari closes his eyes and leans his head on Luca’s shoulder.

“Anyways”, Tobi starts and throws a glance in the direction of the bedroom, “how do you get it on with the kid around?”  
I punch his shoulder.  
“Tobi!”  
“What? Don’t be shy”, he encourages and I punch his shoulder again.  
“Ow!”, he whines and looks at me, “I thought you loved me!”

Luca laughs easily and Mari groans.  
Tobi raises his hands defensively, “Oi, don’t be getting it on here and now, okay?”

Mari punches his other shoulder.  
Luca rubs circles into Mari’s waist with his thumb and smirks.  
“I’d like to boast with crazy sex-stories, but honestly… we kinda haven’t done anything lately”, he sighs. “Unlike you two we don’t have a pair of good-natured twins to babysit for us whenever we needed time alone”, he adds. Mari rolls his eyes at “good-natured” and scoffs.

Tobi squeezes Mari’s knee.  
“Admit it though, you’re glad you got to learn with Will, now that you got your own kid to look after”, he teases.

“Sam is nothing like Will”, Mari states and nudges Tobi’s knee with his bare foot.  
“That’s honestly why we haven’t given him away to a babysitter”, Luca adds and sighs into Mari’s neck. “Do you think a kid like him would be okay away from his favorite human for more than a few hours?”

Right… I almost forgot about the reason why he’s with them at all and not with his parents.

I lower my head.  
Will is growing up safely. Laura too, she has a wonderful mother and great father, they’d never let anyone hurt their princess.  
My two favorite children in the world are perfectly safe.

Yet I can’t keep my heart from clenching.

I’ve only met Sam today, but he’s already earning a place among the other children in my heart. And even if he didn’t, even if I hadn’t met him today, or ever… it wouldn’t change anything.

“Can we show you something?”, Mari asks and sits up in Luca’s lap.  
Tobi throws a glance at me.  
“Sure?”, he murmurs and I nod, not sure what Mari is planning. He glances at Luca, who nods once and releases him.

Mari gets up and walks over to the desk with their PC on it and pulls an envelope from a drawer. He brings it back to us and pulls out a single photograph, never looking at it.  
Tobi reaches for it and holds it up for us to see.

First thing I see is the twins, one of them holding Sam. I’d guess it’s Mari, but I can’t be certain. They’re easier to tell apart in person than on pictures.  
But the second thing that jumps out at me is the dark, yellowing bruise on Sam’s cheek.

I press my hand over my mouth and hold back a gasp. When I look at the twins, I see they expected this reaction.

Mari turns his head to the side, trying to hide the pain in his expression. Luca grabs his hand and pulls him down onto the couch again.  
“On the same morning… Sam cried… a lot”, Mari starts and licks his lips. Luca holds Mari’s hand in his.  
“We tried to comfort him, but in the end he just had to get it all out, I guess”, he continues when Mari remains silent.

“It doesn’t have to mean anything”, Tobi tries, but Mari shuts him up with a single glance.  
“We know children have bad days. But Sam really is nothing like Will”, Luca explains, squeezing Mari’s hand. “We noticed something”, he says, glancing at Mari before speaking again. “Sam doesn’t cry unless he feels safe.”  
“He’ll shed tears, but unless he feels safe, or absolutely can’t bear it anymore, he won’t let it out”, Mari adds and looks into Tobi’s eyes, then into mine.  
“He had only turned two when that picture was taken.”

I lower my head.  
Mari doesn’t need to say anything else. He doesn’t need to point out that Sam’s self-restraint is a result of his trauma, of his fear; that this is nothing but tragic for a child of Sam’s age. Hell, it’s tragic for any child, even adults, no matter their age.

“Mari…” Tobi starts, but stops himself. He entwines his fingers with mine and looks at the twins, before lowering his head.  
“Are you really okay with this? I mean, I understand you couldn’t turn away from this. I know that. But a child isn’t something you can give up on once you start”, he murmurs.  
“Give me some credit, man! I’m not that stupid that I would insist on caring for a child unless I was certain I could do it. I mean, you know me. Do I look like the kind of person who’ll adopt a kid just to be a hero?!”, Mari hisses, barely containing his rage. Luca puts his arm around Mari’s chest.  
“We didn’t make this decision to be heroes. It wasn’t easy either. We talked it over with our parents too, and even when we argued in court, we weren’t entirely sure if it was the right thing to do”, Luca murmurs, pulling Mari closer.  
“But in the end it was the only thing that felt right”, he sighs and glances at the photo which Tobi was still holding in his hands.  
“Look at Sam”, he says and points at the boy, “Look at that face. Look at Mari too, and tell me this isn’t the right decision.”  
Tobi sighs.

“I know guys”, he mutters and hands the photo back to Mari, who places it back inside the envelope.  
“I just… I don’t want to visit you in the hospital again”, he whispers, but I know Mari heard him anyways.  
Mari looks at him for a while, thinking about his words.

“Unless I burn down the kitchen in an attempt at re-creating one of Luca’s recipes, I don’t think you will”, he then jokes.  
The message in the subtext is clear. ‘We’re not talking about that anymore.’  
Luca smiles.  
“Good thing I do the cooking, while you do the parenting”, he says, joining in on Mari’s new mood. He knows better than to aggravate Mari, and we both do too.

In the end, Mari pretty much dozes off in Luca’s arms. Luca and Tobi chat for a bit about this and that, about how clients are horrible sometimes, how children can be cruel too and how they’re still worth protecting.  
I don’t say much, stealing glances at the envelope on the coffee table, at Mari’s untouched cup of coffee and at the bedroom door.

Mari wakes suddenly and looks around, disoriented for a moment. Luca smiles and bends down to kiss him.  
I look at my lap.

“Sorry… I didn’t mean to fall asleep. You should have woken me”, Mari mumbles and runs both hands through his face.

Tobi shakes his head.  
“Nah, we wouldn’t wake a hard-working momma”, he says in a soft voice, his tone betraying the teasing nature of his words.  
We know that they had to change their work schedule to make time for Sam, both running back and forth between their two jobs and home to care for the kid.

Luca smiles and whispers something into Mari’s ear. The latter shakes his head and looks at Tobi and me then.  
“I guess… I’ll go to bed”, he murmurs and shivers.  
“Of course”, Tobi says softly.

When Mari rises to his feet we do as well, hugging him and wishing him a good night.  
I run my hand through his hair and press a brief kiss to his temple before letting him go. He smiles at me, and looks down at Luca, who grabs Mari’s hand and breathes a kiss into his palm.

Mari then walks away, slips into the bedroom and out of sight.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this story!


End file.
